Tigers stay grounded after sweeping Indians

Prince Fielder, Alex Avila

Phil Long / Associated Press

Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder, right, is congratulated by teammate Alex Avila after scoring a run against the Cleveland Indians on Thursday. Are the Tigers destined to win the AL Central?

Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder, right, is congratulated by teammate Alex Avila after scoring a run against the Cleveland Indians on Thursday. Are the Tigers destined to win the AL Central? (Phil Long / Associated Press)

Mike DiGiovanna

Detroit completed a four-game sweep of Cleveland on Thursday night, turning a three-game lead in what for months was a tight American League Central race into a seven-game bulge, when the message came across Twitter.

"Congratulations to the Tigers, who just won the AL Central after sweeping the Indians," wrote Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

The Tigers, behind Justin Verlander's gem, won, 5-1, Tuesday. They outlasted the Indians, 6-5, in 14 innings Wednesday and pounded them Thursday, 10-3, to extend their winning streak to 12 games before losing to the New York Yankees on Friday night.

"It's always good to get some separation from the team that's breathing down your neck," Detroit right fielder Torii Hunter said.

The rotation, as expected, has been superb, although with Max Scherzer (17-1) leading instead of Verlander, and an offense powered by most-valuable-player candidate Miguel Cabrera and Fielder is among the AL's top three in runs, average, on-base percentage and slugging.

But the key to the summer surge may be a bullpen led by blue-collar closer Joaquin Benoit, hard-throwing right-hander Bruce Rondon, left-hander Drew Smyly and recently acquired Jose Veras.

"Before the season, in the first half, there were lots of questions about our bullpen," Hunter said. "They've stepped up in the last few weeks and saved us."

Since Hideo Nomo joined the Dodgers in 1995, only two Japanese pitchers have been among the top five in Cy Young Award voting, Nomo finishing fourth in the National League in 1995 and 1996 and Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka fourth in the AL in 2008.

Scherzer, who has a 2.84 earned-run average and 175 strikeouts, is the favorite, and Seattle ace Felix Hernandez (11-5, AL-best 2.39 ERA) is a top candidate. But so are Darvish (11-5, 2.72 ERA, AL-best 192 strikeouts), Kuroda (10-7, 2.45 ERA) and Iwakuma (10-5, 2.75 ERA).

"Darvish's slider hooks more than a normal slider, his curve breaks more than a normal curve, and his fastball is explosive," Hunter said. "Kuroda has been nasty for years, and Iwakuma is filthy. When I was with the Angels, Albert Pujols hated to face that guy. When Pujols hates to face a guy, you know he's nasty."